Amprion Offshore has begun the planning approval process for DolWin4 in the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of the German North Sea.
The permitting phase can now begin, following certification of planning approval documents by the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency.
Amprion will connect wind farms in the North Sea to the transmission grid with the offshore grid connection system DolWin4.
The wind farms are located in the EEZ and are, therefore, under the responsibility of the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency.
In March 2021 Amprion submitted the approval documents to the authority in order to check them for completeness.
The subjects of the documents are the DolWin delta converter platform and the approximately 26 km-long sea cable system in the EEZ.
A special focus is on the compatibility of the project with the safety of shipping and air traffic as well as the protection of the marine environment.
The issuance of the certificate of completeness started the planning approval procedure and with it the formal participation of the public as well as the authorities and other public agencies.
Amprion had already received the planning approval for the coastal water section, located in the South of the EEZ, at the beginning of the year and expects to receive feedback from the participation procedure in the middle of 2022.
The decision has to pass through an enforcement procedure with a multi-stage approval process.
Project manager Jan Wiemer said: “The start of the planning procedure for DolWin4 is an important milestone for us.
“As we have submitted the documents for DolWin4 together with those for BorWin4, we expect the procedure to start this year as well.
“Our first offshore projects are on the right track.”
The first construction work of DolWin4 in the EEZ area is expected to start in 2025.
The largely parallel running offshore grid connection systems DolWin4 and BorWin4 are scheduled to go into operation in 2028 and 2029.
Stating at wind farms located in the North Sea, the cables will run 60 km and 125 km at sea and will cross below the island of Norderney and reach the coast in Hilgenriedersiel.
From there, they will run for around 155 km as underground cables towards the Hanekenfahr substation in Lingen (Ems), where Amprion will connect them to its transmission network.